BEST SWISHES

Fix On Your Vision, Then Plot Your Course

This past summer, I had a wedding to attend in Gatlinburg,
Tennessee. I had a few days to spare, and my wife and I
enjoy each other’s company, so I suggested to Linda that we
drive instead of flying. She readily agreed and started
collecting the maps we’d need for the trip.

As we plotted the course, we would be driving from Toronto
to Detroit, Detroit to Cincinnati, Cincinnati to Lexington,
Lexington to Louisville and then into Gatlinburg.

We were plotting the vision, you see, to get us from Point A
to Point B.

When we got in the car to begin the trip, which city was I
thinking of? …Detroit. I had to get to Detroit first; if I
missed Detroit, there’d be a good chance we wouldn’t find
our way to the wedding at all.

Detroit was first on my list — that was my GOAL. After
Detroit was accomplished, Cincinnati became my goal and so
on … all the way to my final destination — Gatlinburg,
Tennessee.

I’ve had people come up and tell me that they’ve given up on
their big dreams because they never seemed to get closer, no
matter what they envisioned or tried. The error they’re
making is that they’re looking for their Gatlinburg,
Tennessee while they’re still sitting in the driveway in
Toronto.

In many instances, they’re writing their Gatlinburg goal on
a Goal Card I’ve given them, or they’re writing it in a
journal somewhere. This is all well and good, but if you’re
not also plotting your course to get from where you are to
where you want to be … if you’re not figuring out the
first goal for Detroit, then following that plotline forward
in progressive order, you’re going to end up in Montreal
instead.

You’ve GOT to plot the course. Figure out what you need to
do between here and there and make those your goals. Once
you have the course plotted, though, there are three very
distinct rules of thumb I want you to remember.

First, just because you’ve plotted the course doesn’t mean
you can put your whole plan on auto-pilot. When pilots reach
cruising altitude they’ll quite often put the plane on auto-
pilot and let years of genius physics and calculus
computations steer the plane toward its destination.

But even with auto-pilot, you’ve got to manually get the
plane in the air and manually land it. And even with auto-
pilot, you’ve got to keep an eye on your instruments and pay
attention to possible curve balls Mother Nature might toss
your way.

You cannot rely on auto pilot to get you where you want to
go. You have to be personally involved and focused on the
process.

Second, don’t get so carried away with the details of
plotting the action steps within your vision that you don’t
ever get out of your driveway. You know what I’m talking
about — you see people around you do it all the time.

They get so caught up in planning and charting and graphing
their future that they never BEGIN it. This is fear in
disguise — that’s all it is. Your plan doesn’t have to be
perfect. Get the foundational elements in place and get
moving.

Third, don’t be so intent on motoring to Detroit that you
miss the scenery along the way. You’re on purpose… you’re
on your way… enjoy the journey, for heaven’s sake.